The question of how filmmakers, producers, and studios reckon with content that features and/or celebrates public figures accused of sexual assault and misconduct remains a thorny one. Just yesterday, we reported on how it was too late in the editing process for Deadpool 2 producers to address their casting of T.J. Miller, who’s seen a number of his projects get canceled in the wake of the numerous allegations against him. Now, Netflix is under some scrutiny for their treatment of the Louis C.K. episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, the Jerry Seinfeld interview series that just got added to the platform.
Late last year, C.K. owned up to a series of allegations regarding sexual misconduct and an abuse of power. In the wake of it, C.K. was cut loose from HBO and FX, and saw the release of his film, I Love You, Daddy, canceled by its production company. When Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee was uploaded to Netflix on January 5th, his episode was not included in the batch, likely due to the controversy surrounding C.K. Decider reports, however, that it’s since been reinserted under the “Late Night Espresso” collection of the series.
The question of “why” remains an intriguing one, and touches on that larger question of how we address this kind of content. Is it helpful to scrub it from existence, or allow it to live on as a means of providing context to the subject in question’s career as a whole?
Regardless, it’s bound to be looked at in a different manner in the wake of #MeToo, especially considering C.K.’s episode is titled “Comedy, Sex, and the Blue Numbers”. Woof.
